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Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar |
Despite criticisms that followed the heavy
presence of security men during the Ekiti State governorship election, the
Federal Government is planning tight security for the August 9, 2014 governorship
poll in Osun State and the 2015 elections.
SUNDAY PUNCH gathered from sources on
Friday that security agencies, especially the police, would pay special
attention to some All Progressives Congress states when deploying personnel.
It was also learnt that security agencies would,
next month, repeat in Osun State, what they did during the Ekiti State
governorship election.
Our correspondents gathered that states that were
being targeted for special security focus include Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Rivers,
Kano, Borno, Adamawa, Sokoto, Yobe and Imo.
A highly placed security source, who confided in
one of our correspondents, said, “Opposition parties should prepare for heavy
deployment of security personnel in their states. With the success recorded in
Ekiti, security agencies are preparing for a large deployment of their
personnel. Helicopters and armoured personnel careers will be in many states
during the general elections.”
When contacted, the Police Force Public Relations
Officer, Mr. Frank Mba, confirmed that the police, in collaboration with other
agencies, would ensure tight security during the 2015 polls.
He, however, said security agencies were not
targeting opposition parties, saying all the states, where elections would
hold, would be given equal attention.
He said, “The police will deploy massively for
the 2015 elections and we will partner other security agencies to ensure
elections are violence-free. Our collaboration with the military, Nigeria
Customs, Civil Defence, the State Security Service and other security agencies
will make the polls credible.”
Mba said it was only a political party that had
something to hide that would be afraid of security personnel deployment during
elections.
He stated that security operatives had no other
business during elections but to ensure that the due process was followed and
that elections held in accordance with the Electoral Act.
“The police and other security agencies are like
light; they are meant to shine light on the electoral process and if a party
has nothing to hide, it shouldn’t be afraid of our deployments,” he stated.
Mba said the Force, under the Inspector-General
of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, would continue to maintain professionalism and
adherence to their code of ethics during election monitoring.
Mba said, “The deployment of security personnel
during the 2015 elections will ensure the process is free and fair. The police
are apolitical and we have continued to maintain that stance since the current
IG assumed office and this could be seen in the way policemen conducted
themselves during elections in Ondo, Edo, Anambra, and Ekiti states.
The force PRO explained that the police were
building capacity to ensure elections were violence-free.
Mba, who is an Assistant Commissioner of Police,
said the force was already constructing helipads in Enugu, Benue and Nasarawa
states.
He added that more helicopters would also be
procured to increase the aerial power of the Police Air Wing.
He said, “Helipads are being constructed in
Enugu, Benue, Nasarawa and other states for the election. We are having a whole
lot of helicopters. Adverts are already placed for recruitment of aviation
engineers and aircraft maintenance and the rest of them.
“Apart from improvement in logistics, we won’t be
taking charge of security alone in as much as we retain our prime position as
the lead agency in internal security, we will also be getting support from the
military, customs, the civil defence and others during the elections.”
Mba said the police were doing their best to
ensure transparent and credible polls across the country.
On the likely criticisms that may trail
deployment of security personnel during the 2015 elections, Mba stated that the
freedom of people to ventilate their divergent opinions is part of democracy.
He said, “Though the opposition complained about
the security deployment in Ekiti, the people appreciated it and showed it by
snapping pictures with policemen and posting it on their Facebook,
besides it is better to err on the side of caution.”
But reacting to the plan for massive security
deployment in the 2015 elections, opposition politicians and civil rights
groups warned the Federal Government against undermining free and fair
elections.
A delegate at the ongoing National Conference,
Dr. Junaid Mohammed, alleged that plans to deploy armed military personnel for
the 2015 elections just as it was done in Ekiti, was a ploy to provide cover
for the rigging of the elections.
Mohammed said this in a telephone interview with SUNDAY
PUNCH, in Abuja, on Friday.
He said it was a historical fact that election
rigging had never succeeded in Nigeria without the support of the police and
other security agencies.
According to him, what happened in Ekiti was the
acting out of a script written by the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal
Government and executed by security services.
He said, “What happened in Ekiti is not an
accident. It wasn’t a fluke and what is going to happen in Osun, is also not
going to be an accident.
Mohammed said heads of some security agencies
were at the centre of the plan to rig the elections.
“These are the people who set the parameters for
the rigging of elections. And let me tell you, throughout the history of
Nigeria, there has never been a successful attempt to rig without the full
support of the Police and the security services.”
Mohammed alleged that the President granted an
extension to the tenure of the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar,
who is due to retire this July as a reward for performance in Ekiti.
He said, “His (IGP’s) tenure has been extended
for another year with the possibility of a further extension if he delivers on
Osun and the national elections in 2015 and there are no consequences by the
spineless electorate and the kind of politicians we have in Nigeria.”
But Mba dismissed the allegations against the
IGP. Responding to allegation that the IG’s tenure was extended by one year
because he assisted the PDP to rig the Ekiti governorship election, the Police
spokesman said he could not comment on this as there was no document or
evidence to show that Abubakar’s tenure had been extended by the Federal
Government.
He described the allegation of rigging as a “slap
on the face of Ekiti voters” whom he said applauded the process as free and
fair.
Mohammed, however, said it was sad that our
security services which hitherto earned the respect of the international
community for their discipline and professionalism had become “highly
politicised and commercialised.”
Also, a national leader of the APC and a former
national chairman of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party, Dr. Ogbonaya Onu,
said what happened during the governorship election in Ekiti State should serve
as an eye-opener to the role fear could play in the coming elections.
He said, “The level of intimidation and
harassment was very disturbing to us. We shouldn’t fail to see the place of
fear in politics.
“Intimidation and harassment breed fear and when
there is fear you find that there will be suppression of votes, because if
somebody feels that he or she is not secure, he may not even come out to vote.
We have not really looked at that angle.
“How can you arrest leaders of just one political
party a day to an election? That is enough. Those arrests and other forms of
intimidation are enough to suppress votes, to prevent people who even would
have voted for Fayemi from doing so.”
Such happenings, he said, had the potential of
affecting many things in Nigeria.
Also, the Executive Director, Africa Network for
Environment and Economic Justice, Rev. David Ugolor, recalled that the Edo
State Governor, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, and his Rivers State counterpart, Mr.
Rotmi Ameachi, were stopped from entering Ekiti State.
He stated, “We cannot afford to encourage any
action that will motivate any person to feel that the government is undermining
the people. We must all work towards a free and fair election. What happened in
Ekiti should serve as a lesson to all the stakeholders who were involved in the
election. People should not be threatened by military presence and we should
encourage an enabling environment.”
On his part, a civil rights activist and
President, Nigeria Voters’ Assembly, Mr. Mashood Erubami, said heavy deployment
of security could create a conducive atmosphere for harassment of voters.
He said, “Heavy deployment could in turn create
conducive atmosphere for the harassment, intimidation, disruption of campaign
processes and may also create fear in the minds of the electorate leading to
very low turnout of voters.
“In fact, depending on the intention behind the
heavy deployment, it may make election to be conducted at gun-point and allow
opposition to have free hands to manipulate and cause irregularities which
could ambush the fairness, peacefulness, transparency and legitimacy of the
election.”
He, however, noted that what determined the
magnitude of security deployment were the pre-election attitudes of
stakeholders and the subsisting security.
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